8/1/16

It’s Galaxy Note season, and with a new arrival soon to emerge, there’s the usual discussion about whether or not the Galaxy Note (in this case, the Galaxy Note 7) is worth the financial investment from consumers. Everything in life is about perspective, but in some cases, a given perspective goes too far: it goes from saying that “the Galaxy Note 7 is not for me” to “the Galaxy Note 7 isn’t for anyone,” “it’s a device that isn’t worth the money,” and so on.

I’m all for the idea that everyone has likes and dislikes, everyone has priorities when making purchases, and that some manufacturer priorities are not appreciated by everyone (though manufacturer preferences, like consumer preferences, should be respected). Despite the fact that you may not find a Da Vinci or a Rembrandt painting educational or insightful doesn’t mean that it isn’t insightful or that a lot of work didn’t go into crafting it.

It’s easy to see a bunch of lines, colors, and odd shapes when looking at a painting, but it’s an exaggeration to say that the painting is “no big deal” and “nothing innovative” when one doesn’t understand what the painter or artist has gone through to create the painting or the drawing. It presumes too much to just write off the artist because he or she hasn’t drastically transformed the painting to something completely different.